Darren Bent

[needles]

17 minutes ago, StringerBell said:

True. He's done it before but never regularly. It seems like his tails up at the mo so hopefully it'll become a regular thing.

The belief he must have from the Euros, plus a month under the influence of Roy Keane and the fact he's now 24 and coming into his peak...could be his big breakthrough year as a senior pro.

[StringerBell]

5 minutes ago, needles said:

The belief he must have from the Euros, plus a month under the influence of Roy Keane and the fact he's now 24 and coming into his peak...could be his big breakthrough year as a senior pro.

And a new haircut. I predict he'll have an Alice band by the end of the season and if so, that'll prove he's good.

[Bris Vegas]

Darren Bent.... I just don't get it. He offers absoloutely nothing in the final third other than scoring goals. If we want a poacher, why not just land the best poacher in non-league and pay him a fraction of what Bent earns.

I've never seen a forward in a Derby shirt who offers as little as Bent outside the box.

He's a good goal scorer, but his presence makes his weaker overall as we have no outball and he can't defend from the front. Starting him instead of Martin is madness.

[eddie]

10 minutes ago, Bris Vegas said:

Darren Bent.... I just don't get it. He offers absoloutely nothing in the final third other than scoring goals. If we want a poacher, why not just land the best poacher in non-league and pay him a fraction of what Bent earns.

I've never seen a forward in a Derby shirt who offers as little as Bent outside the box.

He's a good goal scorer, but his presence makes his weaker overall as we have no outball and he can't defend from the front. Starting him instead of Martin is madness.

And there's the difference between thee and me, Bris.

I rate Bent highly, because he has the amazing knack of being in the right place at the right time over and over again.

You rate headless chickens like Simon Dawkins.

[RiddingsRam]

12 minutes ago, Bris Vegas said:

Darren Bent.... I just don't get it. He offers absoloutely nothing in the final third other than scoring goals. If we want a poacher, why not just land the best poacher in non-league and pay him a fraction of what Bent earns.

I've never seen a forward in a Derby shirt who offers as little as Bent outside the box.

He's a good goal scorer, but his presence makes his weaker overall as we have no outball and he can't defend from the front. Starting him instead of Martin is madness.

If you would have made this point last season ( which you probably did ) I would have agreed with you , last seasons system / style relied on a Martin type of forward. From what we've seen this pre season 4-4-1-1 looks like our primary system, maybe some variations and personally I think this system allows for a player like Bent to  basically offer nothing but the vital goals he has a knack of scoring. The goals that win games. 

[needles]

34 minutes ago, Bris Vegas said:

Darren Bent.... I just don't get it. He offers absoloutely nothing in the final third other than scoring goals. If we want a poacher, why not just land the best poacher in non-league and pay him a fraction of what Bent earns.

I've never seen a forward in a Derby shirt who offers as little as Bent outside the box.

He's a good goal scorer, but his presence makes his weaker overall as we have no outball and he can't defend from the front. Starting him instead of Martin is madness.

How quickly we forget. You so have.

I love Chris Martin, he's been a marvellous player for us and will continue to be I'd imagine. Darren Bent has scored consistently whenever he's had a run at any level he's played at. Between the two of them, there's options for the manager and lots of goals.

Plucking some 40 goal flat track bully from the Dr Martens league isn't going to affect the mix, as you well know. Bent isn't going to hold the ball up, Martin isn't going to scorch away from a centre half down the channels. You've got to rate a player on what he can do, not what he can't..then find the best blend of all the talents in the XI.

You can't tell me Darren Bent can't have a role in that.

 

[rynny]

1 hour ago, Bris Vegas said:

Darren Bent.... I just don't get it. He offers absoloutely nothing in the final third other than scoring goals. If we want a poacher, why not just land the best poacher in non-league and pay him a fraction of what Bent earns.

I've never seen a forward in a Derby shirt who offers as little as Bent outside the box.

He's a good goal scorer, but his presence makes his weaker overall as we have no outball and he can't defend from the front. Starting him instead of Martin is madness.

[Alph]

Noooo!!!

Rynny my brother! We're trying to forget!! 

2 of those had us all regularly checking back on our own not so glorious football history wondering why we never made it.

And Theo Robinson just confused folk. How can someone so crap accidently do quite a bit of decent stuff yet still remain crap? It's like someone was controlling him didn't know all the buttons so just pressed all of them.

[Duracell]

2 hours ago, eddie said:

And there's the difference between thee and me, Bris.

I rate Bent highly, because he has the amazing knack of being in the right place at the right time over and over again.

You rate headless chickens like Simon Dawkins.

Simon Dawkins? Headless chicken? Are we talking about the Simon Dawkins that used to play for Derby?

Dawkins has many shortcomings as a player, and if the stronger parts of his game could come to the fore more often, he'd be as good as Butterfield.

But headless chicken? His biggest weakness, if anything, is over-thinking things and being almost TOO calm.

[Ram@Lincoln]

3 hours ago, Bris Vegas said:

Darren Bent.... I just don't get it. He offers absoloutely nothing in the final third other than scoring goals. 

As long as Bent is scoring goals, I couldn't care less what else he does.

If he scores and we win, I'm not going to be moaning that on 72 mins he over hit a pass to Hughes.

 

[Alph]

3 hours ago, Duracell said:

Simon Dawkins? Headless chicken? Are we talking about the Simon Dawkins that used to play for Derby?

Dawkins has many shortcomings as a player, and if the stronger parts of his game could come to the fore more often, he'd be as good as Butterfield.

But headless chicken? His biggest weakness, if anything, is over-thinking things and being almost TOO calm.

It was! Massive potential that's just not going to be unleashed

He was just never interested in going for goal. It ruined the football. 

No better player to try and get a hold of the game though. Well, Hughes too. Pressure never touched them. Technically gifted. 

Was gutted he went without getting a go under Clement. Being away at a key time with Jamaica ended any hopes of being a success at Derby. 

Weird career. 

[RicME85]

No way in Britain play one of the roles where you have to sit back and read the game. He scored the goals he did because of his forward runs which left him out of position and able to pick up a loose ball or luckily have a pass. Too often he goes chasing after a player at 100mph, doesn't make the tackle and ends up ahead of the player and leaving a whole in midfield.

As for what Bris said about Bent not doing anything up top except score, that's tosh. He pulls the defence around and holds the ball out wide, have seen him chasing down and holding the ball until a winger arrives plenty of times from my seat on the 18yrd line.

I am also in the 'build up was too slow' camp for them her of his offsides.

[r4derby]

Bent also brings a certain level of presence. Opposition teams, and defences know about him. When he's on the pitch, the have to be aware of where he is, they can't rest. You won't get this with an u heard of non-league player.

Im not saying we shouldn't get a striker with pace, and that they wouldn't do well, but some do Bent a disservice. Not on this thread however, lot of love after his preseason. We will see what Pearson does in 6 days time!

[Day]

Saying that Darren Bent offers nothing more than goals is like saying Carson offers nothing more than saving goals.

[toddy]

Like all good strikers he needs the right service, get the balls into him and he'll do the business.

[Gypsy Ram]

@David Bent is a good player, and if we are moving away from the 433 and into 4411 or 442 territory then I feel Bent along with Ince/Blackman will have a bigger role to play than Martin this season - providing we are solid in midfield and defence.

[angieram]

10 hours ago, Bris Vegas said:

Darren Bent.... I just don't get it. He offers absoloutely nothing in the final third other than scoring goals. If we want a poacher, why not just land the best poacher in non-league and pay him a fraction of what Bent earns.

I've never seen a forward in a Derby shirt who offers as little as Bent outside the box.

He's a good goal scorer, but his presence makes his weaker overall as we have no outball and he can't defend from the front. Starting him instead of Martin is madness.

I feel that's unfair on Bent, especially on the evidence of this pre-season. 

At Chesterfield he came out of the box several times to control and play the ball out to the wings and on the highlights reel from the Karlsruhe game he won a lovely headed ball to set Blackman running up the right wing,  and was back in the box to almost be on the end of Blackman's cross.

I'm one of Martin's biggest fans but it doesn't prevent me from seeing the positives that Bent still brings to the game. 

[Ramarena]

1 hour ago, r4derby said:

Bent also brings a certain level of presence. Opposition teams, and defences know about him. When he's on the pitch, the have to be aware of where he is, they can't rest. You won't get this with an u heard of non-league player.

Im not saying we shouldn't get a striker with pace, and that they wouldn't do well, but some do Bent a disservice. Not on this thread however, lot of love after his preseason. We will see what Pearson does in 6 days time!

This.

Bent pushes the oppositions defence back as he is always on the shoulder looking for gaps, leaving space behind for players like Ince/Hughes to do their thing. From what I've seen of this pre season Bent has also done a fair amount of tracking back. I noticed him twice win the ball back from the opposition when chasing back. He looks motivated and ready to play.

No-one's saying Bent is better than Martin as far as I can see, what they are saying is that he offers something very different, some of our fans don't value that different option, maybe Pearson does value it and he's the one who picks the team.

[IlsonDerby]

10 hours ago, eddie said:

And there's the difference between thee and me, Bris.

I rate Bent highly, because he has the amazing knack of being in the right place at the right time over and over again.

You rate headless chickens like Simon Dawkins.

Disappointed with this comment. Always had you down as a more balanced and educated poster. 

Labelling Dawkins a headless chicken is ridiculous and probably the opposite of what he is. I don't remember many in the recent past being as composed as he was under pressure. Sometimes he frustrated by cutting in and playing the ball backwards but that's the opposite of a headless chicken.

I like Russell but if you were to compare any of those players to a headless chicken it would be him surely? Head down and run as fast as he can into, usually, danger. 

[Sexydadbod]

what I didn't understand was that in the 2014/2015 season people were moaning at Bent for not holding it up like Martin does, even when he was scoring all of those goals for us. Like someone alluded to before, telling Bent to hold the ball up is like telling Martin to run the channels. I usually agree with you on points @Bris Vegas but completely disagree with you on this. Bent is a former England international and has done it at the top level in the Premier league. His presence alone scares defenders. As a defender I'd love to play against Martin because you know he isn't going to run in behind and you know you'd get into a physical battle which I'd absolutely love. In contrast, Bent would absolutely petrify me because of his intelligence and his pace. I wouldn't know whether to push high up or to drop deep when playing against Bent, if you'd push up then Bent would run in behind, if I sat deeper then you're inviting pressure which the likes of Hughes and Ince would exploit.